Nice 2008

Strange "men" on lamp posts...

Can you see the sea beyond?

I feel that we've been "moving" around a lot lately. As soon as we got back from Paris on Tuesday, we're off again on early Saturday morning and this time to Nice, South of France. We've been to Nice before but without Owen. He wasn't even born then.... It was great while it lasted; I mean taking couples without kids holidays.

For this trip its just for a short weekend; hub's uni friend wedding. I've always thought that from our place to Nice will take at least 8 hours drive but it took us 6 instead. We went to go through part of the Valais (a Swiss canton) Alps (the view was amazing!) and then through Italy; which seems fast since Italians drivers are like F1 drivers any ways!! The roads on the Alps are really long and winding with really long (LONG) tunnels. In Italy, it was really (REALLY) straight then when we reach the coastline, more tunnels but this time its one after the other short ones. :p

Its a good thing hubs decide to get a GPS in January, that way I won't be held responsible if I point out the wrong way! hehehehehe.... But then again even with the GPS system, hubs still take the wrong turn while in Nice town centre!! LOL! And there I though we purposely put on a woman's voice so he'd pay attention! I think its time to switch it to a man's voice.. Hmmmmm...

We arrived at the hotel at about 4pm or so. And since there's still sunlight and its still warm out, we decide to go to the beach. Their beach here is not the sandy type but the pebble type! Which means if one falls flat on it, one will either end up having blue & black all over, brake their nose or have some kind of head injury. Since it was Owen's 1st seaside visit, we decide to not let him run around. Well he didn't run around this time (uneven ground) and he's afraid of the waves! hehehehe... Reminds me when I was little for my very 1st beach outing in Melaka! :) He held on to me like it was for dear life! hehehehe...

Don't let me go!!

Here you go mummy....

The water wasn't that clear since it was near the town centre, but still it was quite warm. Hubs went for a dip in the sea while I stay on the beach with Owen playing throw the pebbles. By the time its time to go back to the hotel, he was sleeping in the stroller. Playing with pebbles seems to tire him!

Peaceful sleep...

We went to the old town for dinner after having fed him in the room. Had to, since there's no under 2 years old kids menu in restaurants. Went to the old town walking. Since there's so many places to eat, it took us 30 mins to decide which restaurant to seat in or out in many terraces! Finally decided to eat inside since there's just no place to put the stroller next to me. Its typical here in France (not so sure about any where else), they place tables & chairs so close to each other that if seated, I could hear the couple whisper at the next table! Not that I want to!!

All happy and ready to paint the town "RED"!

Since its the wedding dinner on Sunday (why Sunday? Don't know!), we went out for a walk in the late morning to the other parts of Nice all the way to the seaside. I think the sea breeze did a lot of good since made Owen fell asleep without a fuss! Besides it was really hot by the time we got to the seaside. Had KFC for lunch in town; (YES!!! Its been ages since I last had KFC!) which is about a block away from the hotel. The afternoon was just to hot for walks with Owen, so its stay in and enjoy the air-conditioning for us. Owen and I had our afternoon nap, while hubs was watching his Wimbledon finals (Federer Vs Nadal; Nadal won).

Just in case he forgot the words....

We drove to the other side of Nice called Beaulieu. The view of the sunset on the way to the Grand Casino was spectacular as the roads were built on a rather rocky and winding sides of the coastline slopes. Good thing we weren't late for the cocktail reception, as we get to listen to Yohann (the groom) sing to Delphine! Not this is a guy who doesn't speak a word of English and here he's singing an Eric Clapton song with the wedding band! LOL! Both of us think that he's been practicing for months for this surprise.... He sang it very well in fact.

The table of sweets! YUMMY!

The actual dinner takes place at the next hall where tables were decorated according to theme. The decorations were DIY by both of them as it was really creative and special. Our table was the Carambar candy car way. The few tables next to us was the Marshmallow men, the cotton candy (called Barbapapa here), the Snow White castle, the 7 Dwarf mountain etc etc. They hired a local blues band for the entire dinner reception where everyone got up to dance whenever they played.

Our 1st dance as mother and son

The very smart men in my life

The best part of this wedding is that they hired a baby sitter to attend to 3 babies (including our boy). So that way we got to enjoy ourselves amongst friends even more knowing that he is being looked after. By the time we leave it was 1am and people are still dancing away! Owen was soundly asleep even after when we moved him from the travel cot to the kiddie seat in the car, drove all the way back to hotel and back in the room.

Ginger bread Minnie & Mikey!

As all holidays/get aways/vacation has end, this one as well. I don't know when we'll come back to the south again, perhaps next summer when Owen isn't too afraid of the waves. ;)